Turret-type lawn sprinkler



March 19, 1963 RINKEWICH TURRET-TYPE LAWN SPRINKLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 15, 1961 lilflllllllllllllllli him":

INVENTOR. P/N/ftM/C/f United States Patent 3,081,950 TURRET-TYPE LAWN SPRINKLER Isaac Rinkewich, Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., assignor to Meluor Industries, Inc., Moonachie, N .J a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 15, 1961, Ser. No. 117,481 9 Claims. (Cl. 239-394).

The present invention relates to a turret-type lawn sprinkler capable of selectively producing water sprays of diflerent patterns.

Because of the irregular shapes of lawn areas there is a demand for lawn sprinklers capable of adjustment so as to sprinkle different shaped areas. In some instances, as where the sprinkler is located in the middle of a wide expanse, uniform sprinkling in all directions around the sprinkler is desired. Where the sprinkler is to be used to treat adjacent areas of wide expanse, a square shaped pattern is desired in order to eliminate the necessity for any overlap of sprinkled areas, with accompanying excessive wetting of such overlapped areas, when the sprinkler is shifted in position. Where long narrow lawn areas are involved a correspondingly elongated rectangular sprinkling pattern is desired, sometimes narrower and sometimes wider depending upon the dimensions of the particular area to be sprinkled.

While sprinklers have been devised which are capable of being adjusted so as to spray water over areas of different sizes and shapes, they are usually quite complicated mechanically, thus making for high cost and inherent unreliability. An alternative is to use different sprinkler units for differently shaped areas, but this is ordinarily economically out of the question for the ordinary home owner.

It has been proposed in the past to utilize a turret-type structure in which different water-distributing heads are brought selectively into operative engagement with a water passage, each head being designed to produce a spray covering areas of different dimensions or configurations. Here too, however, the problem of mechanical complexity and expense has arisen, largely because of the difficulty which has been encountered in providing an effective and long-lived seal between the stationary and movable parts of the device, thereby to prevent water leakage at and around the base of the sprinkler, with accompanying over-saturation of the ground on Which the sprinkler rests. In addition, it has proved difiicult to design the water-distributing heads in a simple manner and still obtain the desired uniform distribution of water spray over the entire area to be treated.

It is the prime object of the present invention to produce a turret-type sprinkler which avoids the above disadvantages and which, more specifically, is capable of lowcost manufacture from a plurality of parts easily manufactured to relatively coarse dimensional tolerances, but without any sacrifice in long life, reliable operation Without leakage, and uniformity of water spray over each of the areas involved. These results are achieved by means of novel arrangement and design of the various parts in volved.

The movable turret-forming carrier member is movably mounted on a base in an extremely simple manner, as by merely being rotatable about a fixed axis. The carrier member has a plurality of water-distributing heads spaced therearound, and as the carrier is moved relative to the base a selected one of those heads is brought into operative relation, via an opening formed in the underside of the carrier member, with a water passage formed in the base. The seal between the carrier member and the base around the water passage is achieved by means of a simple sealing ring which is preferably pressed into sealing engageinent with the carrier, in part by means of the water 3,081,950 Patented Mar. 19, 1983 ice flowing from the water passage into the water-distributing head. This seal is made truly effective because the force of the sealing member acting upon the underside of the carrier member is balanced by a separate upwardly acting resilient means which operatively engages the carrier member at a point substantially diametrically opposed from the opening in the carrier member which is brought into operative connection with the water passage in the base. This upwardly acting resilient means preferably cooperates with appropriate structure on the carrier member so as to additionally define a detent means to maintain the carrier member opening in operative relation with the water passage in the base. The sealing means carried by the base and the openings in the carrier member through which water passes to the water-distributing heads are so cooperatingly shaped that movement of the carrier member relative to the base so as to bring different waterdistributing heads into operative position does not adversely affect the sealing means. The water-distributing heads themselves are so designed as to be easily assembled and mounted on the carrier member, the construction being such as to ensure a proper seal around the heads and to ensure a substantially uniform distribution of water within the heads, thereby producing a reliably uniform spray therefrom.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the structure of a turret-type sprinkler as defined in the appended claims and as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, certain of the parts of one of the waterdistributing heads being eliminated for purposes of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof, partially broken away and cross sectioned;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing the manner in which the water passage and sealing means carried by the base cooperate with the carrier member and a water-distributing head mounted thereon;

FIG. 4 is a side cross sectional exploded view, on an enlarged scale, showing the manner in which the parts of the water-distributing heads are assembled;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing the manner in which the upwardly acting resilient means carried by the base cooperates with the carrier member movable thereover;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing the manner in which the carrier member is rotatably mounted on the base;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the relationship between the shapes of the water passage and sealing means carried by the base and the opening in the carrier member in communication therewith; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but showing an alternative shape for the opening in the carrier member.

The sprinkler of the present invention comprises a base generally designated A on which a turret-type carrier member generally designated B is rotatably mounted, that carrier member carrying a plurality of water-distributing heads generally designated C, the carrier member B being movable so as to bring a selected one of the heads C into operative sprinkling position. Each of the heads C is designed so as to produce a different sprinkling pattern, thereby permitting the single unit illustrated to be used for the sprinkling of areas of different sizes and shapes.

. The base A comprises a body having a central portion 2 and a depending skirt-like portion 4 which may be mounted upon metal runners 6 to facilitate the movement of the sprinkler over the ground to any desired position. A water passage 8 is formed in the forwardly extending part of the body 2, and opens outwardly upon a fitting 9 to which an end of a hose is adapted to be secured. The water passage 8 has an upwardly extending portion 10 formed in a boss 12 extending upwardly from the part 2, the upwardly exposed end of the passage 10 having a sealing ring 14 preferably floatingly received in an enlarged opening '16 at its upper end. Spaced rearwardly from the boss 12 is a second boss 18 having an internally threaded aperture 20 adapted to receive the mounting screw 22. Spaced rearwardly from the boss 18 is a third upwardly extending boss 24 having a central passage 26 with a ledge 28 at the lower end thereof, a spring 34) being received within the passage 26, resting at its bottom on the ledge 23, and engaging a ball 32 at its upper end. The boss 24 is substantially diametrically opposed to the boss 12, an imaginary line between the bosses 24 and 12 substantially passing through the boss 18.

The carrier member B comprises a plate-like wall 34 having a central depending hub 36 adapted to fit over the boss 18, thereby to rotatably mount the carrier member B on the boss 18. The central portion of the plate 34, above the hub 36, is provided with a pair of stepped areas 38 and 40 (see FIG. 6) into which a pair of washers 42 and 44 are adapted to be received, those washers, in conjunction with the head of the screw 22, serving to retain the carrier member B in position on the stud 18. It will be particularly noted that this rotatable mounting is achieved by means of simple and inexpensive parts, and that the carrier member B may have an appreciable degree of permissible movement relative to the base A in addition to its desired rotational movement.

The wall 34 of the carrier member B extends out radially beyond the bosses 12 and 24, and may be provided with a depending flange 46 for purposes of ornamental appearance and also to hide the bosses 12 and 24 from view and inhibit the entry of foreign matter beneath the wall 34.

The upper surface of the wall 34 is provided with a plurality, here shown as four in number, of upstanding circular lips 48 which surround an upwardly facing surface 50 preferably provided with a circular bead 52, the latter surrounding an appreciably depressed area 54, an aperture 56 passing through the wall 34 at that depressed area. In the form shown in FIGS. l-3, 5 and 7 that opening 56 is substantially circumferential relative to the axis about which the carrier member B is adapted to rotate and the width thereof is appreciably shorter than its length, both of the dimensions thereof being smaller than the inner dimensions of the sealing ring 14 carried by the base A. A combination sealing and water-distributing element 57 is adapted to rest on the surface 50, extend over the head 52, and extend completely over the depressed area 54-, being upwardly spaced from the lower surface of the area 54 so as to define a chamber therebetween. The element 57 is formed of a suitable sealing material such as rubber or conventional gasket material, and is provided with a large number of openings 58 therethrough (see FIG. 3). The water-distributing heads are completed by a dome 60 with an outwardly extending flange 62 adapted to rest upon the periphery of the element 57 over the surface 50 and the bead 52. The upwardly extending ends of the lips 48 are spun over the flanges 62 of the domes 60, thereby to secure the parts together and to press the periphery of the elements 5'7 against the surface 50 and bead 52. The dome 60 is provided with a plurality of apertures 64, the sizes and locations of which are preferably different from dome to dome, the sizes and locations of the openings 64 determining the area which will be sprinkled by water emanating from that particular dome. For example, the dom 69 in FIG. 1 is designed to sprinkle a rectangular area ten feet wide and fifty feet long, the dome 60a is designed ot sprinkle a rectangular area twenty feet wide 4 by forty feet long, and the dome 60b is designed to sprinkle a square area thirty feet on each side.

The undersurface of the plate 34 of the carrier member B is provided with a plurality of recesses 66, one for each of the heads C, so located as to be brought into registration with the spring pressed ball 32 carried by the base A whenever the aperture 56 corresponding to a water-distributing head C is brought into registration with the upper end of the water passage 10 in the base A. It will be understood that the spring 26 is maintained in a compressed condition, so that the ball 32 always exerts a resilient upwardly directed pressure on the underside of the carrier member plate 34, both when the ball 32 is received within a recess 66 and when that ball engages the undersurface of the plate 34 between recesses 66.

A plurality of indicia 68 in the nature of arrows may be formed on the periphery of the plate 34 corresponding to the location of the water-distributing heads C, those indicia 68 being adapted to cooperate with a fixed indicator 70 appropriately positioned on the upper surface of the base A.

When the sprinkler is to be used a hose or other source of water is connected to the fitting 9 and the carrier member B is rotated until the desired head C is brought into registration with the water passage 8, 10, as indicated by the cooperation of the appropriate arrow 68 with the fixed index 70. The action of the spring pressed ball 32 on the recess 66 which is simultaneously brought into registration therewith will produce a detent-like action properly locating the carrier member B relative to the base A. The sealing ring 14 is preferably of a thickness such that it will at this point be compressed between the downwardly facing surface of the carrier plate 34 and the upwardly facing surface of the recess 16 in which it is received, the periphery of the opening 56 in the carrier plate 34 being entirely inside the inner periphery of the sealing ring 14. The action of the spring pressed ball 32 on the plate 34 will tend to cause the carrier member B to pivot in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2, thus pressing the plate 34 against the sealing ring v14 and ensuring that a proper seal will be made at that point.

Water will flow through the passage 8 and upwardly through the passage 10. It will press against the lower surface of that portion of the plate 34 inside the sealing ring 14, but that pressure will be counterbalanced by the action of the spring 26. The water will further tend to move the sealing ring 14 upwardly against the underside of the plate 34, thus improving the seal produced thereby. Water will flow through the opening 56 into the chamber beneath the element 57. Since the element 57 exerts some resistance to the passage of water through the openings 58, the water entering through the opening 56 will distribute itself substantially uniformly beneath the entire area of the element 57 before passing through the openings 58. Thus a substantially uniformly distributed mass of water, in the form of jets passing through the holes 58, will be directed into the space between the element 56 and the dome 60 and will then be forced out through the openings 64 in the dome 60 to produce the desired sprinkling pattern.

In order to ensure that the effectiveness of the sealing ring 14 will remain unimpaired despite many changes in the particular water-distributing head C brought into registration therewith, the effective Width of the opening 56, measured in a direction substantially at right angles to its movement relative to the sealing ring 14 when the carrier member B is rotated, is appreciably less than the corresponding dimension of the sealing ring 14. Thus the sealing ring 14 will not tend to be trapped in the opening 56 when the carrier member B is rotated relative thereto. If such trapping were to occur the sealing ring 14 might be pulled out of position, or its upper surface, which actually produces the seal relative to the carrier member plate the spring pressed ball 32 not only serves to locate the carrier member B in its several operative positions corresponding to each of the water-distributing heads C, but also serves to eifectuate the seal between the base-carried waterpassage 8, and the particular water-distributing head C in registration therewith, and to counterbalance the water pressure exerted on the underside of the carrier member B which would otherwise tend to destroy that seal and cause water leakage. Thus, although the carrier member B need not be mounted on the base A with any degree of precision and, indeed, may have a certain limited degree of movement relative to the base A in addition to rotation, the effectiveness of the device as a sprinkler will not be impaired. Indeed, the floating mounting of the sealing ring 14 as here disclosed, that sealing ring being pressed against the underside of the carrier member B with considerable force when water is flowing but with less force when water is not flowing, greatly increases the operating life of the device by permitting the carrier member B to be relatively freely rotated from one operative position to another while water is not flowing without any appreciable adverse effect on the sealing ring 14.

While the carrier member B is here disclosed as rotatably mounted on the base A, it will be understood that it could be otherwise movably mounted thereon, as by having the mounting screw 22 pass through an elongated slot in the plate 34, the spring pressed ball 32 still having the same operative effect on the carrier member 2 in bringing about an effective seal between the sealing ring 14 and the plate 34 and counterbalancing the pressure of water on the underside of the plate 34.

While but a single embodiment of the present invention has been here specifically disclosed, it will be apparent that many variations may be made therein, all within the spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A turret-type sprinkler comprising a base, said base having a water passage formed therein and terminating in an upwardly facing opening, a carrier member of appreciable area movably mounted on said base and supported thereon at a point displaced from said upwardly facing opening, said carrier member being movable relative to said point as it moves relative to said base and also having a degree of freedom of movement in a diflferent sense relative to said point, a plurality of water-distributing heads on and spaced along said carrier member and having downwardly facing openings respectively in communication therewith and adapted to be successively brought into registration with said upwardly facing opening in said base as said carrier member is moved relative to said base, and upwardly acting resilient means on said base operatively engaging the underside of said carrier member at a point substantially in line with said support point and said upwardly facing opening and on the other side of said support point from said upwardly facing opening, whereby the action of said resilient means on the underside of said carrier member biases said carrier mem her, in the direction of its freedom of movement rela tive to said base in said different sense, so as to urge the registering downwardly facing opening on said carrier member toward said upwardly facing opening on said base.

2. The sprinkler of claim 1, in which said upwardly facing opening has a sealing ring at the upper end thereof,

the upper surface of said sealing ring extending from said opening and engaging the undersurface of said carrier member around the downwardly facing openings therein,

said sealing ring being fioatingly mounted in said upwardly facing opening so as to be movable upwardly into engagement with the undersur-face of said carrier by the flow of water from said upwardly facing opening into a water-distributing head.

3. The sprinkler of claim 1, in which said upwardly facing opening has a sealing ring at the upper end thereof, the upper surface of said sealing ring extending from said opening and engaging the undersurface of said carrier member around the downwardly facing openings therein, said downwardly facing openings having an effective width, at right angles to their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, substantially less than the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring and having an effective width, in their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, of substantially the same size as the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring.

4. The sprinkler of claim 1, in which said upwardly facing opening has a sealing ring at the upper end thereof, the upper surface of said sealing ring extending from said opening and engaging the undersunface of said carrier member around the downwardly facing openings therein, said sealing ring being floatingly mounted in said upwardly facing opening so as to be movable upwardly into engagement with the undersurface of said carrier by the flow of water from said upwardly facing opening into a water-distributing head, said downwardly facing openings having an effective width, at right angles to their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, substantially less than the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring and having an effective Width, in their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, of substantially the same size as the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring.

5. The sprinkler of claim 1, in which said water-distribnting heads comprise a wall in which said downwardly facing opening is formed, an element spaced above said wall to define a chamber therebetween and having a plurality of spaced holes formed therein through which water can pass, and an apertured dome extending above said element.

6. The sprinkler of claim 1, in which said water-distributing heads comprise a wall in which said downwardly facing opening is formed, an element spaced above said Wall to define a chamber t-herebetween and having a plurality of spaced holes formed therein through which water can pass, and an apertured dome extending above said element, said element being formed of a sealing material and clamped at its periphery between said dome and said carrier member.

7. A turret-type sprinkler comprising a base, a carrier member movably mounted on said base, said base having a water passage formed therein terminating in a first opening facing said carrier member, a plurality of water-distributing heads spaced along said carrier member and having openings respectively in communication therewith facing said base and adapted to be successively brought into registration with said first opening as said carrier is moved relative to said base, said water-distributing heads comprising a wall in which said downwardly facing opening is formed, an element spaced above said wall to define a chamber therebetween and having a plurality of spaced holes formed therein through which water can pass, and an apertured dome extending above said element.

8. A turret-type sprinkler comprising a base, a carrier member movably mounted on said base, said base having a water passage formed therein terminating in a first opening facing said carrier member, a plurality of water-distributing heads spaced along said carrier member and having openings respectively in communication therewith facing said base and adapted to be successively brought into registration with said first opening as said carrier is moved relative to said base, said water-distributing heads comprising a wall in which said downwardly facing opening is formed, an element spaced above said wall to define a chamber therebetween and having a plurality of spaced holes formed therein through which water can pass, and an apertured dome extending above said element, said element being for-med of a sealing material and clamped at its periphery between said dome and said carrier member.

9. In the sprinkler of claim 1, a sealing ring in said upwardly facing opening at the upper end thereof, the outer surface of said sealing ring engaging said carrier member, said downwardly facing openings in said carrier member having an effective width, at right angles to their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, substantially less than the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring and having an effective width, in their direction of movement relative to said upwardly facing opening, of substantially the same size as the corresponding dimension of the interior opening of said sealing ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 155,852 Bowen Oct. 13, 1874 578,706 Adams Mar. 16, 1897 630,468 Quayle Aug. 8, 1899 2,521,490 Strauss Sept. 5, 1950 2,634,163 Double Apr. 7, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 523,961 Germany Apr. 30, 1931 686,717 Great Britain Jan. 28, 1953 

1. A TURRET-TYPE SPRINKLER COMPRISING A BASE, SAID BASE HAVING A WATER PASSAGE FORMED THEREIN AND TERMINATING IN AN UPWARDLY FACING OPENING, A CARRIER MEMBER OF APPRECIABLE AREA MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BASE AND SUPPORTED THEREON AT A POINT DISPLACED FROM SAID UPWARDLY FACING OPENING, SAID CARRIER MEMBER BEING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID POINT AS IT MOVES RELATIVE TO SAID BASE AND ALSO HAVING A DEGREE OF FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IN A DIFFERENT SENSE RELATIVE TO SAID POINT, A PLURALITY OF WATER-DISTRIBUTING HEADS ON AND SPACED ALONG SAID CARRIER MEMBER AND HAVING DOWNWARDLY FACING OPENINGS RESPECTIVELY IN COMMUNICATION THEREWITH AND ADAPTED TO BE SUCCESSIVELY BROUGHT INTO REGISTRATION WITH SAID UPWARDLY FACING OPENING IN SAID BASE AS SAID CARRIER MEMBER IS MOVED RELATIVE TO SAID BASE, AND UPWARDLY ACTING RESILIENT MEANS ON SAID BASE OPERATIVELY ENGAGING THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID CARRIER MEMBER AT A POINT SUBSTANTIALLY IN LINE WITH SAID SUPPORT POINT AND SAID UPWARDLY FACING OPENING AND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID SUPPORT POINT FROM SAID UPWARDLY FACING OPENING, WHEREBY THE ACTION OF SAID RESILIENT MEANS ON THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID CARRIER MEMBER BIASES SAID CARRIER MEMBER, IN THE DIRECTION OF ITS FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO SAID BASE IN SAID DIFFERENT SENSE, SO AS TO URGE THE REGISTERING DOWNWARDLY FACING OPENING ON SAID CARRIER MEMBER TOWARD SAID UPWARDLY FACING OPENING ON SAID BASE. 